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Zhao Ziyang, former Secretary-General of mainland China’s Communist Party, died at a Beijing hospital last Monday. Good riddance to another communist? In this case, no. Not all tigers are incapable of changing their stripes. During his tenure in China’s one and only political party, Zhao took steps that truly can be called “reforms.” Zhao's greatest moment occurred during the pro-democracy rebellion of 1989, which was centered in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. He opposed the use of China’s vast military might against the peaceful protestors gathered in the square. On May 19, 1989, Zhao personally pleaded with the protestors, mostly...

Killing your customer is generally not good for business. It is amazing how many people don’t understand this. Take, for instance, the French. The November 24th issue of Medical News Today reports on French abortion advocates who argue that French women encounter many obstacles when seeking an abortion. Abortion units have closed in 40% of private clinics in Paris for financial reasons and the number of doctors willing to do abortions is decreasing. According to certain lights, this is a Bad Thing. What Medical News Today failed to point out was the obvious: France has a total fertility rate of...

Despite the Chinese government’s horrific oppression of its people, dissent persists. Today, six women held a protest on an apartment building rooftop in Beijing. They waved a banner reading, “We accuse the police, the prosecutors and the courts in Liaoning province of corruption and trickery.” The women threatened to commit suicide if their demands were not met, but were later taken away by police. The protest took place not far from communist government headquarters. A similar incident occurred several weeks ago. According to the BBC, A growing number of Chinese have been bringing petitions to Beijing to try to gain...

p193 Miami -- It is there that a nutty bunch of Cuban exiles have controlled U.S. foreign policy regarding this insignificant island nation. These Cubans, many of whom were Batista supporters and lived high on the hog while that crook ran the country, seem not to have slept a wink since they grabbed their assets and headed to Florida. And, since 1960, they have insisted on pulling us into their madness. Why is it that in every incident of national torment that has deflated our country for the past three decades-the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, IranContra, our drug abuse epidemic-the list...

Please forgive me if I seem to ramble on! I don't have any documented proof, but when you finish reading this, join me and finding the proof to back up my claims and in assumptions. They are out there, I've read, heard, and known this for years! Q:What is Democracy?According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: Main Entry: de·moc·ra·cy Pronunciation: di-'mä-kr&-sE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -cies Etymology: Middle French democratie, from Late Latin democratia, from Greek dEmokratia, from dEmos + -kratia -cracy 1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which...

George W Bush: Punk icon? By Damian Fowler BBC reporter in New York It sounds unlikely, but there is a surprising new subculture emerging in the United States: Republican punk rockers. In his knee-high Dr Martens and with his head shaved, Michale Graves is the Bush-friendly face of punk rock. He is the front man for the band Gotham Road, which has just kicked off its US tour. On stage he belts out angry, obscure lyrics, but offstage he is also known for his conservative rants and raves. "The leftist radical agenda seems to be resonating loudly from within pop...

Carnival of the Capitalists Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists. Modeled after the Carnival of the Vanities, this weekly roundup is intended to be a "Best Of the Blogosphere" for posts covering business, economics, stocks, accounting, taxes, business law, and related topics. More info can be found in my first post on the subject. There are some excellent posts here from some very intelligent people. I hope this eventually gets recognized by the major business news sources because, while bloggers may not always write as well as the pros, I think we can provide a...

China's PLA enlists capitalist competition By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. The Wall Street Journal, 28 November 2002 ZHUHAI, China -- Pity the organizers of the Zhuhai Airshow. They had the foresight to schedule this year's show in early November, well after the Chinese Communist Party's 16th National Congress was originally expected to finish. But then the Party postponed its confab to the same time, and the cadres decided that flyboys, aerobatics and large (profitable) crowds would detract from the pomp and ceremony of the leadership transition in Beijing. So the event was decidedly low-key, and the organizers had to take...

China turns its back on communism to join long march of the capitalists John Gittings in Beijing Saturday November 9, 2002 The Guardian President Jiang Zemin yesterday effectively jettisoned communism in his manifesto speech on China's future development to the Communist party congress. Mr Jiang stressed the need for the party to "keep pace with the times" and bring prosperity to the Chinese people. Otherwise the party's own future was in doubt. Mr Jiang spoke at length on the merits of his pragmatic theory known as the "three represents" which puts economic development as the top priority. "The world is...

The business press has painted a picture of a thriving, home-grown Chinese market for portals and search engines – mirroring such companies as AOL, Google and Excite – with names such as Sohu, Netease, and Sina fighting for the top spots. Chinese Yahoo!, the American outrider, trails in fifth place. A top Yahoo! representative spoke to me on the condition that I would not use his name or give identifying details other than that he had recently left the company. He admitted that Yahoo! was actually the most popular portal in China by a mile. As a Chinese Internet research...